Demountable chair



May 31, 1966 s. SHAPIRO DEMOUNTABLE CHAIR 2% T N N 5 a N mm W 5 u v 0 m m m United States Patent 3,253,860 DEMOUNTABLE CHAIR Sidney Shapiro, 1420 S. Orange Grove Ave., Los Angeles, Calif. Filed Aug. 17, 1964, Ser. No. 389,983 4 Claims. -(Cl. 297-440) This invention relates to a demountable chair with Y spring clip clamping means and more particularly to the interchangeability of a seat and back portion with a number of different shaped frame members forming a plurality of different type chairs.

An object of this invention is to provide a chair with interchangeable seat and back portions, each of which has clip means whereby a plurality of different shaped support members may be releasably held by the seat and back portion.

Another object of this invention is to provide a seat and back portion of identical configuration whereby one may be interchanged with the other.

A further object of this invention is to provide a clip means at opposite side marginal regions of the seat and back portions to releasably clamp the support members to the seat and back portions and where the support members may be readily removed in order to convert the chair to some other type of a chair structure.

These and other objects of the invention will be made more fully apparent from a consideration of the description which follows taken in conjunction with the drawings.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the demountable chair illustrating a seat and back portion clamped to a frame member fonning a table edge chair which is mountable on a table such as shown in phantom line's;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged cross sectional view taken on line 22 of FIGURE 1 illustrating one form of the clip means;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of another chair structure in the form of a car seat which may be made with the seat and back portion and different shaped supporting members;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged cross sectional view taken on line 44 of FIGURE 3 illustrating a modified form of clip means; 1

FIGURE 5 is a further modified form of chair structure Which may be made with the seat and back portion and different shaped supporting members; and

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged cross sectional view taken on line 66 of FIGURE 5 showing a further modified clip means.

The invention generally consists of a demountable chair generally designated 10 comprising a seat portion 12 and a back portion 14 which are releasably clamped on a pair of side frame members 16 by a clip means generally designated 18.

In my preferred embodiment of this invention, the seat portion 12 and back portion 14 are of identical construction and dimensions and are interchangeable one with the other. In this way, it can be seen that when assembling the chair 10 either portion can be used as the seat or back portion and there is eliminated any chance of misassembly.

The following description is applicable to either the seat portion 12 or the back portion 14. The seat portion 12 may be formed or molded of plastic or other suitable rigid material and includes a curved rounded front edge 20 and has side marginal edges 22, each of which are formed with a downwardly curved flange section 24 and include an elongated groove 26 at the outer extremity of the flange 24. The curved flange 24 on its underside forms 3,253,860 Patented May 31, 1966 an elongated pocket 28 to receive the tubular frame member 16.

The seat portion 12 may also be provided with a pair of slots 30 through which a safety strap 32 may be mounted for retaining an infant in the chair 10.

Each of the sideframe supports 16 include a horizontal section 17 and a vertical section 19. The remaining portions of the supports 16 can be formed into any desired shapes for table seats, car seats, etc.

Once the tubular frame supports 16 are placed in the pockets 28 on each of the marginal edges of the seat portion 12 and the back portion 14, the clip means 18 are clamped into place as shown in FIGURE 2. The clip means 18 preferably are formed from resilient metal and generally correspond in length to the length of the curved flange 24. The clip means 18 includes a generally U- shaped clip 34 having beads 36 and 38 formed at the ends of the respective U-shaped clips. These beads may be in the form of rolled edges such as is seen in FIGURE 2.

To insert the clip 34 in place, the head 36 is seated in the elongated groove 26, flexed around the flange 22 and tubular horizontal section 17 so that the bead 38 may bear against the tube 17 urging the tube into the pocket 28.

While the U-shaped clip 34 is preferably a single elongated clip, a number of individual clips may be used along the entire length of the flange 22 without departing from the spirit of the invention.

FIGURE 4 illustrates a modified clip means where the flange 22 is formed without the elongated groove 26. In this particular modification, the clip means generally designate-d 18' is secured to the flange 22' in the elongated pocket 28' by means of an adhesive or other securement means 40. The clip means 18 include a generally horseshoe-shaped spring clip 42 having a constricted throat formed by inwardly curved ends 44.

In assembling the chair, a frame member 16' may be snapped through the constricted opening formed by the ends 44 and clamped within the clip 42. In order to secure a proper and snug fit, the internal diameter of the clip 42 generally corresponds to the exterior diameter of the tubular frame member 16'.

The spring clip 42 may be formed from any material which is resilient and is possessed of the necessary qualities to return to its original shape. Again the spring 42, while preferably having a length corresponding to the length of the curved flange 22', may be a plurality of shorter clips without departing from the spirit of the invention.

The modification in FIGURE 6 illustrates the seat portion 12" with a generally horseshoe-shaped curved spring clip 46 as an integral part of the seat portion and molded therein. The structure in cross section is similar to the spring clip 42 illustrated in FIGURE 4 and the tubular frame members 16" again can be snapped into place as is illustrated in FIGURE 6 and clamped therein.

The tubular frame supports 16, 16' and 16" are merely illustrative of supports which can be utilized with the seat and back portion and clip means to form completed chairs. In each case, the frame members are preferably formed of .tubular metal stock and each include cushion tips 48 on the ends of the frame portions to protect an infant when he is placed within one of the chair units. In the case of the frame 16 illustrated in FIGURE 1, the tips act to protect a table shown in phantom lines when the chair unit is positioned on the table and to prevent slipping of the chair 10.

While the instant invention has been shown and described herein in what is conceived to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is recognized that departures may be made therefrom Within the scope of the invention which is therefore not to be limited to the details 3 disclosed herein but is to be accorded the full scope of the claims so as to embrace any and all equivalent devices.

I claim:

1. A quickly demountable chair for infant use, comprising a rigid seat portion, a rigid back portion positioned generally normal to said seat portion and being of identical configuration with said seat portion and interchangeable therewith, said seat and back portions including marginal side edges at the opposite sides thereof, said marginal edges each including elongated marginal resilient clip means extending along'at least substantially the entire extent of said side edges, a pair of independent tubular side frame members including portions releasably held securely within said resilient clip means along the entire marginal side edges only of said seat portion and portions releasably held within said resilient clip means along the entire marginal side edges only of said back portion, said rigid back port-ion and said rigid seat portion acting with said "resilient clip means as the sole means for securely holding said independent side frame members in positively spaced substantially parallel planes and acting to prevent pivotal and other relative movement of said independent side frame members to form a relatively rigid self-supporting chair structure wherein said seat and back portions bridge said frame members when assembled.

2. A chair as defined in claim 1 wherein each of said I seat and back portions comprises elongated pockets in the back of their side marginal edges and wherein said clip means comprises U-shaped spring clips for releasably securing said frame members within said elongated pockets, one edge of each of said U-shaped clips being flexed around and bearing against the front of the respective marginal edges and the opposite edge of each U-shaped clip bearing against an associated frame member to thereby resiliently urge said frame members into said elongated pockets so that the side and back portions provide substantially rigid lateral spacing of said frame members and said frame members provide fixed orientation of the seat and back portions in their respective relative positions.

3. A demountable chair structure as defined in claim 1 wherein each of said clip means includes a resilient spring generally horseshoe-shaped in cross section secured to said side marginal regionof said seat and back panel, and wherein said spring is formed with an opening slightly less in diameter than the diameter of said side frame members.

4. A demountable chairstructure as defined in claim 1 wherein said back and seat portions are formed of plastic and each of said clip means includes a resilient spring generally horseshoe-shaped in cross section formed inte gral with said seat portion in said side mar-ginal region.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 865,520 9/ 1907 Page -402 2,474,158 6/ 1949 Neely 5-353.3 2,613,724 10/ 1952 Arnold 297255 2,738,168 3/1956 McBride 297254 2,861,318 11/1958 Fernberg 5-3533 3,006,688 10/1961 Ouellette 297 -452 3,054,643 9/ 1962 Militane 297440 3,061,374 10/1962 Grosfillex 297440 3,115,368 12/1963 Springer et al. 297451 3,126,226 3/1964 Johnson 297254 3,144,271 8/1964 Lieberman et al. 297239 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,249,540 11/ 1960 France.

919,259 10/1954 Germany.

909,850 8/ 1961 Great Britain.

FRANK B. SHERRY, Primary Examiner.

C. A. NUNBERG, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A QUICKLY DEMOUNTABLE CHAIR FOR INFANT USE, COMPRISING A RIGID SEAT PORTION, A RIGID BACK PORTION OF IDENTIGENERALLY NORMAL TO SAID SEAT PORTION AND BEING OF IDENTICAL CONFIGURATION WITH SAID SEAT PORTION AND INTERCHANGEABLE THEREWITH, SAID SEAT AND BACK PORTIONS INCLUDING MARGINAL SIDE EDGES AT THE OPPOSITE SIDES THEREOF, SAID MARGINAL EDGES EACH INCLUDING ELONGATED MARGINAL RESILIENT CLIP MEANS EXTENDING ALONG AT LEAST SUBSTANTIALLY THE ENTIRE EXTENT OF SAID SIDE EDGES, A PAIR OF INDEPENDENT TUBULAR SIDE FRAME MEMBERS INCLUDING PORTIONS RELEASABLY HELD SECURELY WITHIN SAID RESILIENT CLIP MEANS ALONG THE ENTIRE MARGINAL SIDE EDGES ONLY OF SAID SEAT PORTION AND PORTIONS RELEASABLY HELD WITHIN SAID RESILIENT CLIP MEANS ALONG THE 